Ko Phi Phi: Right By Da Beach

Ko Phi Phi Don is a small dumbbell shaped island located two hours East of Phuket (by ferry) in the Andaman Sea, a small Thai part of the Indian Ocean. Yes, I can now say I've swam in the Indian Ocean.

This was to be our relaxing beach portion of the trip, and mostly it was, except that it would soon destroy me.

Our hotel was located on the slope of the eastern dumbbell overlooking the northern beach. Our hotel was clean, friendly, and very fairly priced. However, that was partly offset by the 12049504308 steps one had to climb to reach it (remember, it's on the slope of a hill, which means climbing). In fact, it was part of the evacuation route in the case of a tsunami (a reactive measure from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that wiped out the entire island [yeah, remember that one? Killed 230,000 people? Big humanitarian aid thing afterward? You're hopeless.]).

The whole island would be pretty charming...if it weren't so dirty. It seems from what I've heard that prices have tripled in the past 5 years and the beach has become littered with beer bottles and cigarette butts. It's really an unfortunate side effect of tourism that our "environmental tax fee" we had to pay to enter the island doesn't seem to be combating.

Still, the scenery was beautiful, the people friendly, the party scene lively, and they had addicting banana shakes just as Borocay in the Philippines did.

On our second full day, we rented a boat and did the all day tour of the surrounding islands and snorkel spots. Highlights: Ko Phi Phi Lei, the location where they shot The Beach:

oh my GODLEONARDODICAPRIOHASSTOODWHEREISTOOD!!!

a beach full of monkeys:

You can kind of see some little monkeys over there.

biting fish:
and some scenery:Unfortunately, this was also the day that I would acquire an infected toe, the result of smashing it on a shallow coral reef whilst swimming.

There's the bastard. Look at his guilty face.

Not to mention the nasty, nasty sunburn I got from the equatorial sun. For the rest of the island trip, I couldn't go in the water, had to take antibiotics and couldn't drink, and couldn't take my shirt off because it hurt whenever I did. Everything an island trip should be was stolen from me! At least I got to see the watery things before I was injured.

Still, Ko Phi Phi Don was an experience I'll always remember with friends I'll never forget. A relaxing lull in the hectic sightseeing that bookended the vacation.